Sofia Vergara : Motivational success story of a women under 40

Sofía
Margarita Vergara was born on July 10th 1972. She is a Colombian
actress, comedian, television hostess, and model. Vergara had been widely known
for co-hosting two television shows for Spanish-language television network
Univisión in the late 1990s. Her first notable acting job in English was in the
2003 film Chasing Papi. Subsequently, she appeared in films, including two Tyler
Perry films, Meet the Browns and Madea Goes to Jail , receiving an ALMA Award
nomination for the latter. Vergara's success on television has earned her roles
in recent films, The Smurfs, New Year's Eve, Happy Feet Two and The Three
Stooges . Vergara currently stars on the ABC series Modern Family as Gloria
Delgado-Pritchett, for which she was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards,
three Primetime Emmy Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best
Comedy Actress.

Vergara was married at the age of 18 to her childhood sweetheart, Joe Gonzalez.
She gave birth to their son in September 1992. In 1998, Vergara's older brother,
Rafael, was murdered on the streets of Bogota, Colombia. On May 9, 2011,
Vergara's younger brother, Julio, was deported from the United States to
Colombia after being arrested in April; Julio also had a longtime drug addiction
and previous brushes with the law. "To see somebody dying over 10 years, little
by little, that's the worst punishment," Vergara told Parade magazine. "Now he's
like another person."

Vergara was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2000. She had her thyroid removed,
underwent iodine radiation therapy and made a full recovery. She now takes
medication daily to control the symptoms of hypothyroidism. On July 10, 2012, it
was reported that Vergara and her businessman boyfriend Nick Loeb were engaged.

Vergara was born in Barranquilla, Colombia. Her mother, Margarita Vergara Dávila
de Vergara, is a housewife, and her father, Julio Enrique Vergara Robayo,
produced cattle for the meat industry. "Toti" was the nickname given to Vergara
by her five brothers and sisters and many cousins. She grew up in her hometown
of Barranquilla, and was raised as a devout Catholic in a well-off family,
attending a private bilingual Spanish/English school, known as Marymount School
Barranquilla.

After a marriage at 18 and divorce two years later, Vergara studied
pre-dentistry at a university in Colombia for three years. Then, many
opportunities arose for her to work in modeling and in show business, and
Vergara decided to pursue them, leaving her undergraduate/pre-dentistry studies
two semesters shy of her undergraduate degree. Soon she decided to move to
Miami, Florida, to take advantage of opportunities and to move away from unrest
in Colombia (her older brother was murdered in 1998 during an attempt to kidnap
him). She brought her son, mother and sister with her. Her cousin and adopted
sister, Sandra, is also a television actress in the United States.

Vergara was discovered by a photographer while walking on a Colombian beach.
Soon she was presented with offers in modeling and television work, and she
considered accepting them despite being raised both conservatively and
religiously. According to an article in the January 2002 issue of Maxim, Vergara
was "apprehensive about doing her first television commercial—until her Catholic
schoolteachers gave her their personal permission to take the assignment."
Vergara made her first appearance as a performer at the age of seventeen in a
Pepsi commercial that was widely broadcast in Latin America.

At the age of 20, Vergara moved to Bogotá, Colombia, where she worked as a
runway model and on television. From 1995 to 1998, she was co-host with Fernando
Fiore of Fuera de serie ("Out of the Ordinary" or "Over-the-Top"), a travel
series that sent her to exotic places around the world. It was telecast on the
international Univisión Spanish-language television network, and it made her a
star in the Latin American market. It also gave Vergara television exposure in
the United States via the Univisión stations there. She co-hosted the Univisión
show A que no te atreves ("I Dare You"). She appeared as a guest star in the
season-four opening of the HBO series Entourage. Besides runway and catalog
modeling work, Vergara did independent projects. She was photographed for
posters and swimsuit calendars in 1998, 2000, and 2002.

Vergara is 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) tall and has naturally blond hair, although for
movies and television, she is sometimes asked to dye it brown to make her look
more typically Latina.Vergara was under an exclusive television contract with
Univisión for several years, and after it expired she accepted a role with the
ABC network in the United States. Vergara appeared on the ABC situation comedies
Hot Properties and The Knights of Prosperity. She currently stars on the ABC
sitcom Modern Family as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, for which she was nominated
for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy
Series for 2010, 2011 and 2012 along with a Golden Globe Award, and three Screen
Actors Guild Awards nominations.

Vergara plays Alicia Oviedo in the television show Amas de Casa Desesperadas,
the Colombian version of Desperate Housewives. Her character is essentially the
Colombian counterpart to the Mary Alice Young character in the American show.
She also appeared on the ABC drama Dirty Sexy Money as Jeremy Darling's love
interest. Vergara has made guest appearances in the Mexican telenovela Fuego En
La Sangre. In 2009, Vergara had a five-week stint on Broadway as "Mama" Morton
in the revival of Chicago.

In 2011, Vergara was supposed to star in The Paperboy, an independent drama
directed by Lee Daniels. When shooting was delayed for a week (which conflicted
with Vergara shooting Season 3 of Modern Family), she was forced to drop out. In
July 2011, she finished filming for the Farrelly brothers' The Three Stooges,
which The Daily Beast described as her first lead role in a film. Vergara has
stated, "I play a mean woman that tries to manipulate the Three Stooges into
killing her husband so that she gets all the money. "In April 2012, she appeared
in her son Manolo's YouTube web series Vida con Toty. Vergara was the
highest-earning woman in U.S. television, taking in $19 million for the past 12
months on a list released by Forbes.com on July 18, 2012. In 2008, Vergara was
62 on Maxim magazine's "Hot 100" list. She was named one of People magazine's
"50 most beautiful people" and has been recognized by both the Hollywood
Reporter and Billboard as one of the most influential Latinas in Hollywood.

In 2011, Vergara was named the new face of CoverGirl, with advertisements to
debut in January 2012. In April 2011, Vergara debuted in a Diet Pepsi commercial
with David Beckham, and again appeared in a Diet Pepsi commercial in January
2012. In 2011, it was announced that Vergara is designing a clothing line for
K-Mart targeting soccer moms, and appeared in a number of commercials for
Comcast's Xfinity brand.

TV’s top-earning actress isn’t just another pretty face. The Emmy-nominated star
of ‘Modern Family’ is THE face of a sweeping and lucrative trend in mainstream
American media - to capture the $1 trillion Hispanic market. The 40-year-old
Colombian actress also has a line of clothing and home goods sold at KMart and
lucrative endorsement deals with Diet Pepsi, Covergirl, Rooms to Go and thyroid
medicine Synthroid. Engaged to businessman Nick Loeb since last summer, Vergara
told Cosmopolitan the couple is in no rush to walk down the aisle: "He was
already married with a big wedding and I was already married with a big wedding,
so we're going to something but not right now.”